I’m going to assume this is in the US & therefore i’ve not heard this story. Doesn’t take a genius to work out however that this is yet another case of the justice system viewing the perpetrator as the victim. Something’s seriously cockeyed somewhere along the line.

The key here is reasonable doubt. And as much as a verdict like this gets to me, I have to say that it’s a small price to pay for all of the innocent people who have been acquitted the same way; the alternative is returning to the days of the Salem Witch Trials.

I think she’ll write a book and do lots of interviews, and still won’t be believable. My real issue is I wish the truth would come out for the sake of an innocent child who wasn’t given a chance to live her life.

@bob_ Check the topics. :D@Blackberry Agreed on your second reply. I’m only continuing to watch because I want to hear the jury explain their decision.@jerv I do agree strongly with your sentiment. I felt fully convinced of Casey’s guilt, though. But I’ve been known to be wrong, and I think it would be even worse if she’s actually innocent, and got convicted. Especially since she was up for the death penalty.

Given that the evidence that she murdered her daughter consisted entirely of insinuation and speculation, what else could a moral jury decide? On the other hand, the USA might be a better country if the death penalty were extended to cover lying, psychopathy, and promiscuity.

It also reminds me of OJ, and I’m still convinced that she did it. Disappointed, but not shocked. There was plenty of reasonable doubt and not much in the way of solid evidence against her. Frustrating, because I believe in my heart that she did something wrong, but legally I think it was probably the right verdict.

This is awful. If she were innocent, and her child really drowned in a pool, what the hell would make her cover it up to look like murder. Disgusting. The entire defense team smiling and introducing themselves at the end? Disgusting.

I purposely avoided watching that farce. It was much show with little substance, much like the O.J. trial. From what little I heard, the prosecution was ill-informed and unprepared. The verdict was based on the presented evidence and no white woman, in the U.S. would be convicted on the basis of evidence presentated.

However, if the defendant was black, she’d already be in jail and probably on death-row.

@bob_ don’t you remember the O.J. Simpson trials? The guy was obviously guilty but the attorneys on both sides turned it into a race bating circus so that obvious evidence was obscured by antics and snappy com-backs. Entertaining but not justice.

I know nothing about it except what a friend told me last night. He said there wasn’t any hard evidence to show anything. Ya’ll may think she has a guilty demeanor, but the prosecution didn’t do their job to show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that she did it.

I’m surprised this case even reached court. They had nothing, from what I hear. Pathetic.

@wundayatta Maybe your friend didn’t tell you they found decomposed hairs belonging to Caylee in the back of Casey’s car, the back of Casey’s car smelled like a rotting corpse, etc. etc. Not much hard evidence, sure, but that paired with her behavior after Caylee went missing (she didn’t report her missing until she was missing for a whole month, she told her parents that Caylee was with a nanny who turned out not to exist, she went out partying throughout that month, in a recorded phone call she sounded much more concerned about not getting blamed for what happened to Caylee than about what happened to Caylee…) was enough to convince me. But, reasonable doubt, etc. etc.

I just wrote on facebook regarding this. The only thing that gives me any comfort is that there are not family members needing justice done. It was her own child, her parents seem to want to keep their own daughter out of jail. From what I understand there is no father of the young child in the picture? Of course the state, and many of us outside of the situation, also want to see justice done, but it is nothing like if she had killed our own child. She is a sociopath, she will eventually do somethingnthat will get her punished. She can’t help herself, just hopefully she won’t badly hurt someone else in the process. What a mess.

It makes me proud to be an American, to know that in a society where 88% of TMZers think Casey Anthony is guilty, that a jury of her peers who spent the majority of the last 6 weeks of their lives doing nothing but listening to, and analyzing, evidence, took all of 10 hours to unanimously find her not guilty of murder.

I can never understand why someone would kill their child. If they don’t want the child, they should give it to their parents or to adoption. Nothing was said about the tons of overtime the State of Florida spent on the police investigating, after her lies. People in Florida are losing their homes to foreclosure and the cops are running around after her stories.

Can we just put her in jail for the crimes she has been convicted of or confessed to?

(1) Her child was missing for a month, and she did nothing about it—child neglect.
(2) She claims the child died accidentally, and admits that they covered it up.
(3) All the lying to the police that she actually has been convicted of.

If her story did turn out to be true (the child died in an accident and the body was hidden by family members), that would account for the limited physical evidence, like the dead body smell in the car. There really was not enough evidence to convict her of murder. There is plenty of evidence to convict her of other crimes, though.

If I had a completely radical, shit-kicking alter ego on here, this would be the time for him or her to say “That’s what lynch mobs are for.” But I have a very decorous, civilized persona to maintain, thank you, ladies and gentlemen, so I have to say I’m with @marinelife.

Or I would be if I’d been watching this thing unfold on TV, which I haven’t. I’ve only seen news articles, which do lack a certain you-are-there dramatic fidelity.

Having served on a number of juries myself, I’d add that the jury probably had to be pretty brave and tough to stick to the evidence and the law.

@nikipedia As the prosecutor points out: Why would George or Casey put duct tape on the little girls mouth and make an accident look like murder? I think you hit it on the head. She should have been convicted of something that she would have to spend some real time in jail.

Although I believe she is completely guilty of a few things, this country was founded to provide “liberty and justice for all.” Our Bill of Rights states that we all have a right to a fair trial. Fair trials have to consist of hard evidence, not of adamant feelings. The death of Caylee Anthony is a true tragedy, but the jury had to act on evidence and not on feelings of sorrow and hatred. There was not enough tangible evidence to convince them that she was entirely guilty, so they just let her off, which is probably a stupid move. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I see a sociopath in Casey Anthony. She did nothing whenever her child was missing for a month, she lied and paraded police officers around the city in a false search for her, and she’s desecrated the remains of her child.

I’m a huge advocate for fighting child abuse and neglect. None of us know exactly what has happened to Caylee or how anything really went down, but we know that severe neglect was in the mix. I hope that Casey’s thoughts will haunt her for the rest of her days and encase her in a mental prison for what she’s done to her child and her family.

Although I wouldn’t doubt it if some vigilante came after her and killed her…

One need not believe the defedant’s account of events in order to entertain reasonable doubt concerning the prosecution’s account. Also, it’s barely credible that the behavior of a psychopath might deviate from the norm.

I couldn’t agree more that this is a good example of how our justice system is supposed to work. I do find it frustrating, but as I said above I believe it was probably the right verdict.

I wonder the same things that @nikipedia asked. Would that require a second trial? Would that fall under double jeopardy? Is she off scott-free despite the fact that some of things she admitted to are pretty horrendous, even if they couldn’t prove murder or manslaughter?

@ANef_is_Enuf She can never be tried again for the death of her daughter, or for child endangerment, or for child neglect, no matter what evidence comes to light in the future. If she gets on TV and says, “Yep, I killed her”, she can never be tried or punished by the State for it.

I think I agree with the headline that said this case was a “victory for reasonable doubt”. I believe Casey Anthony probably did kill her daughter, but there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that and the jury reacted accordingly.

OK, so I have to ask, obviously the evidence was so circumstantial that the jury acquitted her. But…what about all the innocent people who get convicted? They’re innocent so the only evidence they can have could BE circumstantial. Yet they get convicted.

What gets me is that she or someone in her family knows how this kid dies or is responsible for it and they won’t ever have to tell. But when the only evidence that those three teenagers from West Memphis, Tennessee killed the 3 little boys back in 1993 was that they listened to metal music, and then 2 got life and one the death penalty, that’s just real fucked-up justice.

And one more thing: did anyone here say anything about what the bloody F$#@ing MEDIA probably did to affect the case? How would it have been different if all of us hadn’t hungrily ogled over the proceedings? I just have to ask that.

@bkcunningham and @Mariah As far as the “death” smell in the back of her car, did you guys look at the pictures from the trial on Huffington Post? Her car was FILLED with trash from carpet to ceiling in the trunk and the rest of the vehicle. her mother later took the “death smell” thing back.

@Mariah Yes, thank god they were sequestered, but, do you think a roving watching eye on something 24 hours a day changes the way the public feels about something? luckily, this isn’t Puritan Colonial era, or we would all be out beyond the courthouse yelling for her blood!

I think we need to get America back to 1870’s style justice at least for a day, drag her into the thoroughfare, shoot her, then walk back into the bar and keep drinking.

I am happy to live in a country that will ensure you have a right to a fair trial… but it seems like with all the hoops they’ve created, trial isn’t fair anyway! And hell, even if it were, there are still people being discovered (not too infrequently) to have been wrongfully sentenced and served YEARS.

Just like with OJ, everyone knows he did it, but b/c “the professionals” didn’t collect the evidence the right way, he walked.

We KNOW she did it, she’s even made facial expressions during the trial of disbelief when it was in her favor, and she walks…

What mother has a missing child, notifies no one, and parties, not showing a sign of sadness that her child is missing. Forget all the rest of the evidence…

I think they may have believed they couldn’t have any doubts about her guilt. That isn’t what the law states. I don’t know of course. I’ve just tried to understand how they could have come back with not guilty on all the charges except lying to police officers. Many people I’ve talked to think there can’t be any doubt whatsoever and that isn’t the case.

I really can see how reasonable doubt was created. The evidence was sketchy. I think it was enough to cause reasonable suspicion, but I’m not sure that it was proof. It’s unfortunate, because I am definitely one of the people that believes she did something horrible to Caylee, and I strongly believe that her parents helped her along the way. They all reek of guilt to me. But, at the same time I am also a little bit relieved to know that the justice system is working the way that it is supposed to.
You often hear it said that it is better to let 10 guilty people go than to convict one innocent person, and I think this case is a good example of that. It’s hard, emotionally, because your gut tells you that she did something awful. The proof just wasn’t there.

I hope the criminal justice system works and Judge Perry gives her the maximum one year on each of the charges she was found guilty on. Not time served. One year for each in general population in prison. I hope the criminal justice system works and she is in general population and has a lifer with mommy issues as her cell mate.

@bkcunningham I’m an evil bitch, but I actually hope she gets the 4 year sentence, goes back to prison and gets shanked. Save us taxpayers from buying her three fucking meals a day, and keep her from ever hurting anyone else.

Here are my thoughts: Her parents didn’t report Kaylee missing either which is kind of strange since they all lived together. Casey claims she found her dad holding Kaylee’s body. Casey also claims her dad molested her. I think Kaylee and Casey have the same dad and that he had started molesting Kaylee who may have been verbal enough to threaten to tell Casey. In which case, the dad is screwed and was desperately seeking a way out. Then, he made Casey feel like she was responsible for Kaylee’s death so that he would help her cover it up (he’s the only one who hasn’t been seen crying…. think about it).

@Jude he tried to kill himself because he wanted to be with Caylee and he broke down crying in court harder than I’ve ever seen anyone cry.

Casey kept making excises about where Caylee was. There’s a timeline they presented. She would lie to her parents and say. Caylee was with “Zanny” that person didn’t exsist. When she finally told her parents she didn’t know where Caylee was, a month since the last time anyone saw her alive, that’s when her mom called 911.

@jonsblond I’ve been wondering if she might change her name and get plastic surgery to hide like some very notorious murderers have done before when public opinion of them is so hateful that they’re actually at risk of vigillante death.

@Jude There are so many possibilities to guess at. I don’t know if the charges that her dad or brother raped her are true, but I wouldn’t doubt she’s suffered sexual abuse by someone at some point. That could explain some of her erratic behavior. It’s entirely possible that Caylee was a child conceived in rape, that she had wanted to get an abortion and had been pressured not to, and that she either killed Caylee or Caylee died accidentally and she didn’t show the kind of remose you would expect because of the conditions of her conception. Who knows, really. I’m increasingly glad she walked because I’m realizing just how nebulous all the information is.

@bkcunningham You and I think alike. I have a strong opinion that this jury was instructed in a manner that they didn’t understand that if they had “some” doubt they could still convict on lesser charges…THAT way she’d still be charged at least with involuntary manslaughter (which would not have been a death penalty sentence) and “double jeopardy” would be removed.

@Mariah You said, “The jury was sequestered and not able to watch the news, so that probably didn’t affect the outcome.” Yes. Sequestered for the last how many weeks? We’ve ALL heard of all of the potential evidence for years now.

What really makes me ill is that she now stands to make beauko bucks on the book and movie rights.

@Mariah As for your link, I read the whole thing. And of course had to read further about that particular murder, and I wish I hadn’t…it touched close to home for the simple fact that, when you are a child, you do things on a whim without any aforethought and under the influence of others, maybe things you are haunted by as you grow into an adult. The lines between victim and killer blur almost to an indescribable mesh. Scary.

My thoughts? I think she is a spoiled, selfish, self-centered little brat who got tired of her kid like a child who gets tired of a toy. I mean, right after she was arrested she was BITCHING at her parents because they couldn’t get her out.

It is a crazy world we live in when Michael Vick gets more jail time for his involvement in dog fighting and his involvement with killing dogs than Casey Anthony gets for killing her own child. Strange, strange world.

@JLeslie unless social services would get a call and they had a determination of reason to suspect or a founded child abuse investigation; the state would NEVER be involved in her future child rearing. Well, with the exception of welfare funds for food, heating her home, medical care, housing assistance or any other number of state welfare assisted programs she could sign up for if she so wished.

Who has money @Dutchess_III? Casey Anthony’s attorney told the judge during the final sentencing that she could not afford an attorney and the state would have to appoint an attorney for her if she appealed the verdict of guilty on the charges of not telling the truth to the police.

My response was a made-up scenerio about Casey having children in the future. :) In real life, she qualifies for a court appointed attorney in Florida and indigent if “the applicant’s income is equal to or below 200 percent of the then-current federal poverty guidelines prescribed for the size of the household of the applicant by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.” Section 57.082 of Florida Code.

Absolutely not @JLeslie. Unless someone reports her for some sort of child abuse or neglect, she isn’t going to be investigated or watched. The state isn’t going to put her on some sort of list to check on her periodically if and when she has children. She isn’t even on probation or under any sort of mandatory counseling. When she walks; she walks out free.

@bkcunningham Isn’t she basically reported? From what I understand they did not charge her with neglect, so she is not found not guilty of neglect. I believe the state probably won’t do anything in the future, bit not because of legal reasons, because they tend to slack and be imperfect on these things.

What I am curious to know is if a woman has her child taken away for neglect and abuse, when she has another baby does the state automatically investigate?

@JLeslieWhat I am curious to know is if a woman has her child taken away for neglect and abuse, when she has another baby does the state automatically investigate?

That’s really a loaded question. It depends on the State laws and the municipality and on how bogged down the social workers are/the judges/foster care-etc. In Milwaukee, it is not automatic. However, it is becoming more normal for the judges to remove all future parental rights. This allows for more infant adoptions and less children in the foster system.

These days the defense lawyers and prosecution make a game out of convictions and see only each other as competitors. It doesn’t make much difference whether the defendant is innocent or guilty, only that the game is competitive.

This time the prosecution lost and the jury decided that Ms. Anthony was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Who knows maybe she’s innocent, who can decide but the jury? Since the prosecution has decided she is guilty, they probably gave up trying to find anyother suspects. That means that a possibly guilty person is still running around planning the death of other children. I would rather let one guilty person go than persecute an innocent one and ignore further investigation.